The team returns a lot of talent in important positions, but big strides will need to be made in the offseason if the Huskers want to be in the title hunt again.

I think the biggest x-factor for next year is Lexi Sun. She basically missed out on an entire off season of training and development, plus didn't start playing until midway through the year. The biggest area of improvement needed is her offensive arsenal of shots and being able to finish in tough moments and tough rotations. Biggest areas that need improvement are tooling the block, hitting high hands and swinging out of the bic. She's going to take on a bigger role with Foecke out and had trouble finding the floor in some pivotal moments, so her development as a go to hitter is crucial for this team's success.

Sweet seemed to be most effective hitting sharp cross court but regularly hit out when hitting to zone 6 or down the line. Another year with Hames should improve their connection, but she needs to be more consistent after a somewhat underwhelming sophomore campaign.

Stivrins was electric in the tournament. Keep improving her connection with Hames, work hard to improve lateral speed blocking and take ownership of this team in the offseason.

Schwarzenbach needs to add some muscle and just work on hitting good angles offensively and on the slide. She's a stellar blocker but needs to develop as an offensive threat for this team to be successful.

You can nitpick on Hames but she finished the season strong, proved to be a very good defender and did about as much as you could ask for out of a true freshman. I think top priority for her is developing a faster tempo outside to Sun and being able to consistently hit a slide set from 8-12 feet off the net like we see Hilley set Rettke. Stivrins is going to be her best option next year, and I think Nebraska needs to utilize that connection as much as possible.

Miller's serve receive was a little shaky at times, but I thought she had a good freshman season and was a big upgrade from Densberger.

I'm guessing Nebraska comes in at preseason top 4-5. I don't think you can overstate how important Foecke and Maloney were to this year's team, especially Foecke who just was a winner through and through. A lot of other teams are replacing a senior setter (Illinois, Penn State, Minnesota, BYU, Oregon, etc) or have a couple of big question marks at various spots, so I think this team will be ranked anywhere from 3-5 in the preseason.

The team returns a lot of talent in important positions, but big strides will need to be made in the offseason if the Huskers want to be in the title hunt again.

I think the biggest x-factor for next year is Lexi Sun. She basically missed out on an entire off season of training and development, plus didn't start playing until midway through the year. The biggest area of improvement needed is her offensive arsenal of shots and being able to finish in tough moments and tough rotations. Biggest areas that need improvement are tooling the block, hitting high hands and swinging out of the bic. She's going to take on a bigger role with Foecke out and had trouble finding the floor in some pivotal moments, so her development as a go to hitter is crucial for this team's success.

Sweet seemed to be most effective hitting sharp cross court but regularly hit out when hitting to zone 6 or down the line. Another year with Hames should improve their connection, but she needs to be more consistent after a somewhat underwhelming sophomore campaign.

Stivrins was electric in the tournament. Keep improving her connection with Hames, work hard to improve lateral speed blocking and take ownership of this team in the offseason.

Schwarzenbach needs to add some muscle and just work on hitting good angles offensively and on the slide. She's a stellar blocker but needs to develop as an offensive threat for this team to be successful.

You can nitpick on Hames but she finished the season strong, proved to be a very good defender and did about as much as you could ask for out of a true freshman. I think top priority for her is developing a faster tempo outside to Sun and being able to consistently hit a slide set from 8-12 feet off the net like we see Hilley set Rettke. Stivrins is going to be her best option next year, and I think Nebraska needs to utilize that connection as much as possible.

Miller's serve receive was a little shaky at times, but I thought she had a good freshman season and was a big upgrade from Densberger.

I'm guessing Nebraska comes in at preseason top 4-5. I don't think you can overstate how important Foecke and Maloney were to this year's team, especially Foecke who just was a winner through and through. A lot of other teams are replacing a senior setter (Illinois, Penn State, Minnesota, BYU, Oregon, etc) or have a couple of big question marks at various spots, so I think this team will be ranked anywhere from 3-5 in the preseason.

I was talking to my best friend this morning. He had a unique idea. He was blown away by how talented and dynamic Stivrins was. His theory? Move Stivrins to the left and Zuhn to middle. Never thought of that.

Post by bigfan on Dec 17, 2018 12:54:49 GMT -5

Post by big10+4 fan on Dec 17, 2018 13:21:50 GMT -5

The biggest issue I see as of right now is passing. We lose 2 primary passers and at this point we don't know who will replace them. That's going to affect offense (obviously) and could make preseason a bit dicey (especially if we're going to have a loaded non con like it has been hinted).

Post by eov4nu on Dec 17, 2018 13:29:43 GMT -5

The biggest issue I see as of right now is passing. We lose 2 primary passers and at this point we don't know who will replace them. That's going to affect offense (obviously) and could make preseason a bit dicey (especially if we're going to have a loaded non con like it has been hinted).

I don't disagree with your concern but also see the evolution/development of Sun as a passer to continue, I look at how horrid of a passer she was as a freshman to how much she improved without any off season training this year, Miller will improve and everyone seems to think that Knuckles is nails.

Post by huskergeek on Dec 17, 2018 13:50:19 GMT -5

It will probably be another rough season with a few bumps in the road, but if the last two(eighteen) years have taught me anything, it's that Cook deserves the benefit of the doubt on having the team ready at tournament time. I think a lot of people are writing off Sun and Sweet based on this season, and I believe that's a mistake.

I would really appreciate some progress on limiting the net violations though. Yikes.

Post by huskerjen on Dec 17, 2018 14:00:19 GMT -5

It will probably be another rough season with a few bumps in the road, but if the last two(eighteen) years have taught me anything, it's that Cook deserves the benefit of the doubt on having the team ready at tournament time. I think a lot of people are writing off Sun and Sweet based on this season, and I believe that's a mistake.

I would really appreciate some progress on limiting the net violations though. Yikes.

I agree with this. Sun will be a much better attacker with a full off-season of development. Her connection with Hames will get stronger, they'll work to maximize her contact point (she has a ridiculous vertical but doesn't utilize all of it -- part of that was Hames' location inconsistency for the first two-thirds of the season), and she'll get stronger. Her serving, defense, and passing, all progressed nicely during the season and will continue to get better as well.

With Jazz, it's just mental. All the off-season pressure of trying to be a 6-rotation player got to her, then when she got off to a slow start offensively, it got in her head. In addition, she also had connection issues with Hames which compounded the issues.

I would be surprised if both didn't make a major leap forward. I know that jasonr had talked to staff members last week and Cook has mentioned repeatedly that now that Hames has experience and built consistency toward the end of the season and into the tournament, one major off-season goal is to run a faster offense. I think that plays into Sun's, Sweet's, and Kubik's, attacking strengths.

Post by plm on Dec 17, 2018 14:50:08 GMT -5

As some have said it may be an interesting battle between Megan & Kenzie for the libero position. It may not be either When it was first posted about these two coming Megan was listed as a DS while Kenzie was listed as a libero. Both played club for Munciana. Megan was the libero while Kenzie played OH. Both were really good OH’s on their high school team. Kenzie has been listed as an inch or two taller which may have been the reason for her playing OH for Munciana. For what I’ve seen on video a few times Kenzie is a really good athlete and Megan has already broken the 2000 point barrier in testing which not many do as freshmen at Nebraska.